Susan Price, Melbourne
On September 30, the National Tertiary Education Union's national council overwhelmingly endorsed a motion to continue to resource a political and industrial campaign that includes building NTEU involvement in the November 15, ACTU-organised "national day of community and union action".
Attended by 200 delegates, the council meeting also decided that the NTEU should promote union solidarity if any union or unionist is prosecuted under the Howard government's anti-union legislation, including support for mass delegates' meetings to organise a defence campaign.
The council noted that NTEU membership has now reached its highest level since the union's formation.
The impact on the tertiary education sector of the multitude of federal government policy reviews over the past year, plus changes to regulatory frameworks and attacks on university governance, and the continuing trend of decreasing public funding of universities were also discussed.
An emergency motion was unanimously passed by council delegates in response to the proposed new anti-terrorism laws. The motion expressed alarm at the legislation, which may lead to surveillance of university staff and students' research and teaching, including their use of library and internet materials, and their attendance at seminars and conferences. It also noted the risk that university administrators may be required to monitor staff and students on behalf of police and security services.
The motion also noted that these laws may enable police and security services to use their powers against participants in industrial, political and community campaigns.
It committed the union to publicising its concerns with the new laws, and to pressuring the federal, state and territory governments as well as vice-chancellors to fully protect civil liberties and freedoms for university staff and students.
In a release to the media, NTEU president Carolyn Allport stated: "The deportation of US anti-corporate activist Scott Parkin on undisclosed grounds is a worrying sign of how these new powers could be used.
"The union is particularly concerned by the willingness of the leader of the federal opposition [Kim Beazley] to support the deportation and the failure of the federal government to provide reasons for its decision."
In response to the US-led occupation and war in Iraq, delegates overwhelmingly adopted a motion encouraging NTEU endorsement and participation at a local level in events that are part of the November 5 national day of anti-war protest.
From Green Left Weekly, October 12, 2005.
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